A Place in France....

No - France is considerably bigger than Switzerland and very diverse. You will be much better off renting a place for a week in 3 or 4 different places to really be able to see anything.

I would definitely do a week in Paris and one on the Cote d'Azur. Other options are Strasbourg, the Loire, Provence, the Dordogne. these places are too far apart to see as day trips. And IMHO , once outside of Paris you will do much better with a car for added flexibility.

France is about the same size as Texas. It's a lot bigger than most people realize, and it offers an amazing diversity of scenery.

You might look into the area around Annecy -- turquoise-colored lake, snow-capped mountains, good rail connections, near the Swiss border, rushing streams, stone buildings and cottages, splendid hotels, fine restaurants, magnificent scenery, relatively few American tourists.

Nytraveller - thank you for your thoughts. We are Aussies and have a long way to travel to Europe. We have plenty of time so do not have to fit in everything. We thought of just choosing one area and take our time in discovering this. My husband does not want to hire a car so we have to use public transport or hire a driver to do longer day trips. Of the choices you have given me, which place would you choose first and what time of year.
We do not want to travel at peak tourist time when we have a choice.


USNR - Thank you too - Annecy sounds nice - can you suggest a website for an apartment? We have a lot to learn but learning quite quickly.

Here is a rail map which also serves as a handy map of the country:

http://downloads.raileurope.com/map_of_europe/france.html

RonZ,

Thank you very much - this is great. It gives us good feeling of the country.

we loved Annecy, Rent the French film " Claire's Knee" to see the lake and town.

What a wonderful idea! My first thought was to wonder whether you would split your trip between two weeks in one area and two in another. You also didn't mention whether you want to be in or near Paris for part of that time. I would certainly recommend saving a week for Paris -- I can't imagine being in France for a month and not going there!

As others have noted, you can't really "cover" France from one place the way you did Switzerland.

The area that first came to mind, given what you are interested in, is Provence. You can do some exploring within Provence without a car, although you might find you need a driver at some point.

Annecy is beautiful...I'm not sure I would spend a month just there, but it is lovely.

When people think of the Riviera (Cote d'Azur) they often think only of the beaches, the Cannes film festival, etc. It's all that but it's an area easy to explore without a car as a good local train service runs along the coast stops frequently and connects with buses up to the hill towns.

So, a base in Nice, for example, would give you access to all that city has to offer plus easy connections to Cannes, Antibes, Monte Carlo, etc. by train and up to St. Paul de Vence, Vence, Vallauris, Grasse by bus. Worth doing some research but I'm relatively sure while you might miss a car at times, you could do a lot of exploring by train and bus.

If you like art, the has many museums focusing on Impressionists and post-Impressionists, many of whom spent time on the Riviera. There's also a great deal of Roman history.

An apartment in or near the old town in Nice might be an idea. As an example, Nice has an excellent Matisse museum (his house and an expanded gallery) as well as a lovely Chagall gallery.

This description sounds like a 50s travelogue but I would love to be able to rent a place there for a month, off season.

You don't say what season next year but if it is early autumn Bretagne is stunning. Three years ago my husband and I rented a cottage in La Baule the first week of October and we had a few days where it was actually warm enough to go for a quick swim. We rented bikes because there is a good bike path network there and went to the salt flats in Guerande, along the ocean to Le Croisic and just along that gorgeously long beach (apparently France's longest according to the locals) in La Baule.

Curlie
The area on the Med, near the Spanish border is quite nice and meets your needs. Have a look at this photo album.

http://pyreneesmediterraneanliving.com/

You can visit a lot of nice villages, ports, mountains, and close to Spain.

Plus, it stays warm most of the year.

Blackduff

France is about 9 times (or 6 ? I forget but I think it's 9 times) as large as Switzerland, just for info. And France seems to be less well equipped with public transporation than Switzerland, sort of. But for a small country as Switzerland it's easier thing to do.

Did you stay in Interlaken the whole 4 weeks and did only day trips? The most remote areas such as Lugano in Ticino takes about 5 hours by train. Perhaps you did not get there but I'm sure you made the best use of the Swisspass.

I like the idea of Cathinjoetown to base yourself in Nice, for example. The public transportation is well done there and busses are rediculously cheap (€1 for a single ticket and €4 for a day ticket - For longer terms, there might be even more interesting offers) and those take you to various towns and villages far out of Nice. The trains are a bit more expensive but not much. If you feel like it, you can easily make a day trip to Italian Riviera b ytrain. If public transportation is important and you don't want to change your base, forget Annecy this time. No comparison to Nice. Getting out of town is a bit of pain (relatively compared to Nice).

I like the idea of staying at one place the whole time, that has a lots of advantages but do you consider also moving once at least ? e.g. 1 week in Paris and 3 weeks in, let's say, Nice, as maybe already suggested above? Maybe not your style? Questions of your priorities I suppose.

I found this blog the other day and get interesting infos, about Nice transportations and others. Since I know myself Nice somewhat (been there at least once last few years and 3 times this year), I can tell the author of this blog gives good infos.

http://www.allaboutnice.com/buses_and_coaches_in_Nice.html

Hi cu,

>Not knowing a lot about the places in France....<

Now's the time to get some guide/travel books.

Also look up France under "Destinations".

There are many places to visit, each with its own character.

Whatever you decide, I recommend at least one week in Paris.

I would be very happy with 1 month in a Paris apt.

The problem with seeking out quaint villages and towns is that they often have very limited bus and train service.

For example, if you were to stay in Beaune and wished to visit other towns in Burgundy, you might find only 2 morning trains and two evening trains.

Also, if you wanted to visit the various small towns in Alsace or the Dordogne, it would be quite difficult without a car and a lot of local knowledge.

Enjoy your planning.

Train routes and schedules:

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Think also about the area round Biarritz. You can get there by train; you have mountains on the doorstep and you have lots of lovely Basque villages

First of all, thanks to everyone for their great ideas - we have a lot of work ahead. We have spent time in Paris a few years ago and thought we would give that a miss this time and see more of the countryside.

Barbara in FL - That is a good idea re breaking the time into 2 week lots. My husband loves to stay in the one place though - he does most of the food shopping and gets to know the shopkeepers in the village which he enjoys.

Kappa - To answer you question - we actually stayed in Interlaken for 3 weeks. There is so much to see there and the train system is wonderful. We could also include cable cars and mountain trains in our pass - we had to buy this before we left home. While in Interlaken we did have some long days - to Mont Blanc, Montreau and St Galan at the top of Switzerland. Sometimes we did not get back till 8 or 9 pm. After Interlaken we trained to St Moritz and caught the Bernina Express the next day to Lugano for 2 days, then trained again to Bellagio on Lake Como for 4 days. We had a hotel room on the lake's edge and this was magic. After this we went by train into Italy and did a 3 weeks self-guided (with walking notes) walk through Tuscany before we came home. It was a wonderful trip. We loved Italy.

Thanks again for everything - keep the ideas coming please.

It's me again, Curlie.

I forgot to mention that we can go at any time of year - preferably in the less busy season, out of school holidays. This year we went in May/June and this was lovely - the weather was pleasant and not too hot for walking.

Hi again. With Paris off the table, I guess my next question is what's more important to you, exploring the way you did in Switzerland, or finding a place to stay and digging in for a month? Each has its appeal, but I don't think you can do both, especially since you are limited in transportation options. If you want to get a taste of more than one region, moving at least once would be recommended. If the experience of being in one place for a month is very important, then you will not be able to have the type of experience you did in Switzerland. Having said that, I think Nice would be a good base, or maybe Arles. As several others have noted, Nice has a variety of transportation options; I think Arles has a number of train and bus connections as well that would let you explore the area and other cities in that region without needing a car. What about three weeks in one of those towns and then one somewhere else? France is so diverse in its scenery and its sights that it seems a shame to come so far and not see at least a glimpse of some other part of the country. But of course I'm projecting. Happy planning whatever you decide -- that's half the fun!

If you want to spend 3-4 weeks in one place and if you want to rely on public transport you should go an area with a lot of attractions and good train connections.

My first choice would be the Cote d'Azur, either in May or in October. This is a region with excellent train connections which offers everything: breathtaking scenery, beaches, picturesque villages, hiking in the mountains, quaint old towns, museums, art, culture, nightlife, food..

I am aware that a few Fodorites will scream "no, not Cote d'Azur". But I am afraid that these people have yet to discover the true beauty of the region. Do not go there in high season, but in May or October you will enjoy perfect climate and, if you pick the right place to stay, even tranquility.

We had been to many other regions in France, but always in a car and in most regions, it was hard for us to imagine how to stay there a longer period of time without a car.

Maybe the Provence would be an option too - if public transport works well enough there. I think of the area Nimes-Avignon-Arles-St. Remy.

Alsace and Bourgogne are also nice and have public transport, but I would not stay there for three weeks. Maybe you can divide your time.

The French Alps are gorgeous, but, again, I cannot imagine spending there three weeks without a car.

Gottsa chime in about splitting between 2 areas. I can't imagine missing Paris if this is your first France trip.

We made Paris a base for 2 weeks and visits included Brugges (sp?), Versaille, 3 Chateaux, and Chartres. Many other places available by train or tour-not to mention all the sites in Paris itself!
In south, we have based in Aix, Montpellier and Nice on three different occasions. Here you need to, as other poster says, get out some books and see what calls out to you. We loved Aix but it was the least easy for travel nonetheless saw through train and tours Marseille, Cassis, Rousillon, Nimes and Loumarin; saw Arles and Avignon from Montpellier; did many tours from Nice as I was ill but it had good train connections to Italy also.
Hope to read your trip report next year!

Who would say "NO" to Côte d'Azur"? - Considering all, transportation network, beauty if the area, etc, seriously, Côte d'Azur seems to be the one. But I agree also to avoid tourist busy season. I visited Eze village for the 4th time this June. It was the only time I wanted to leave the village quickly due to the group tourist crowd that filled most of its alleys.

Coincidentally, I have received a copy of "Walk & Eat, Nice" (sunflower books)the day before yesterday. Amazon.com had a 2nd hand one (state = new) at £3.63. It is a small format, easy to carry and gives lots of ideas on different hiking trails near Nice that can be reached by bus and train. It doesn't tell about walks in Nice city so you would need another guide book for that. Basically it says about hikings, local foods and a bit of Nice restaurants, that's all. If you decide your long stay on Côte d'Azur/Nice, it is worth getting this guide book. I never thought Nuce could be a hiking destination.

Yes, I'm afraid it will be difficult to duplicate your Swiss experience in France. France is much bigger and no country has as good a transportation system as Switzerland.

That said, I agree with the idea of Nice. In addition to the multitude of buses and trains along the coast, there is the cute little Train des Pignes, which goes back into the mountains north of Nice.

But Nice is a city, albeit a city with a laid-back, easygoing atmosphere. I get the impression you would prefer a smaller town. You might want to look into Menton, right at the French/Italian border. Or just east of Nice there's Villefranche-sur-mer and Beaulieu, also sur la mer.

le train des Pignes is also explained in details over 5 pages in above menioned small book "Walk & Eat NICE"

You could easily spend a month in Paris & find plenty to do, but as a base you can't ask for a better place. If it must be one place, Paris would be the logical choice.

We rented an apartment in Vence - charming town, quaint shops. good restaurants and the famous Matisse Chapel. You can go on day trips to many wonderful towns - St Paul de Vence, Nice, and many more. Buses to many locations leave from the center of town in Vence.

Hi Curlie: I see that you guys are fit, so why not go to Beaune, in Burgundy region and join a bike tour for 5 days. We went with Duvine Adventures www.duvine.com and had a great time and visited a lot of small villages. Good luck. Larry

I went to France in June with my 15 year old son. We spent a week in Paris, and then picked up a car and made a large circle of France in 3 weeks. We spent several nights in each spot and were happily familiar with each stop.

We went to Normandy, the Loire valley,the Dordogne, Provence, the Maritime Alps, the Cote D'azur, points inbetween, and ended in Chamonix. ( and a couple of days in Italy on the way to Chamonix)

I understand this is more of a road trip than you intended, but the variety of terrain was gorgeous and it was *impossible* to pick a favorite region.
The Dordogne is often overlooked, and due to the age of my son we did not linger in the wineproducing areas, so we did not see much of Burgundy for example.

Driving was easy and very pleasant, and it would be difficult to visit some of the smaller towns without a car. I am not addicted to the vehicle, it was just so much easier to be on our own schedule and stop at the farmer's for fresh cheese, wine, bread, etc when we saw an appealing stop. yes gas is fairly expensive but small cars are economical and easy to park in small towns.
BTW, ALL happy navigating with a teenager,whether driving or on foot,was ONLY possible with a TomTom navigational device. Oone of the best features was the ability to mark the location of our car while wandering one of the darling towns and then when tired, turn it on and find the car. It was so much easier than even traveling with a competent map reading adult, and the best money I've ever spent on a travel aid. My husband used it in Berlin, Amsterdam and Brussels with out other teen and it was invaluable to him as well.

What a terrific idea. Clearly you want a little more indepth experience and prefer slowdown travel. I recommend you go in September or October for low crowds and stunning weather. There is no question that if you are only going to one place and you don't want to be centered in Paris (which you may want to reconsider, Paris and the day trip options are inexhaustible) it should be Nice. The bus and train transportation (cheap too) reflects its position as a hub. From there you can easily sample the entire Riviera/Cote d'Azure, which itself is different depending on where you go, but you can also easily get to mountains, Provence and its charm, Monaco, even Italy. You will have no trouble filling your time of three weeks. You can catch a ferry out to Corsica, take a two day cruise up the coast, and also even though Nice is fairly large, the part you would be in is not. Vieux Nice has a village feel to it, the market there is fabulous as are the antique shops. There is also a brand new tram, so anywhere you stay near the tramline means you can get to the heart of Nice easily and quickly anytime you want.
You could quite easily split your time between Paris and Nice or even a city in Provence...Avignon makes a nice base as it is a hub for trains and buses to explore Arles, St. Remy,Aix, etc. in that area. But if you don't want to go to Paris and you only want one other place, my recommendation is Nice in September or October!

Hi Curlie,

Check out this website:

http://www.untours.com/

Apartment rental plus car or transportation pass, etc. They have several places in France that you can settle into - usually a little out of the way - but that's what you want, right?

Hi
I am a Parisian Fedorite. All the trains leave from and arrive to Paris. That means that you can travel from Paris to the South, from Paris to the Strasbourg, from Paris to Brittany, etc... with the TGV ( high speed train) in less than 4 hours, but it will take you lot of time to travel on secondary SNCF lines. If you need to book your tickets : www.voyages-sncf.com , early birds can have very cheap tickets, otherwise they can be very expensive if you buy them late. Reservations can be made 3 months ahead for TGV.

Where to stay :
Paris, and while staying in Paris take the train to Versailles, Deauville, Chateaux de la Loire may be.
If you do not want to hire a car,then you may go to the French Riviera by TGV with a stop in Aix-en-Provence, then Marseille, Antibes, Cannes or Nice. Once in the South ( from Marseille to Nice) you will be able to stay at one two or three places and take buses for sightseeing.
There should be a TGV bringing you directly to Charles de Gaulle Airport for the return.
If you like the Atlantic Coast, there is La Rochelle ( TGV from Paris) than you can visit the Ile de Ré, a very nice island.
If you wish to visit the country and the small villages, you must have a car.
If you really have time, why not book a carriage drawn by a horse (roulotte) or a barge to visit Burgundy and taste the wines!

May and June is the best period to visit south of France. July and August are crowded and everything will be much more expensive.

If you need to rent an aparment :
www.homelidays.com

Have a nice trip !

Hi everyone - I am so overwhelmed by the responses. Sorry if it takes so long to reply but we are Aussies in Sydney and it takes us longer to receive messages and we reply when you are sleeping. Most of you have suggested Cote d'azur and around Nice as a base. As we are retired and can go at any time - some of you say May/June or Sept/October. We were in Interlaken in May this year and the weather was pleasant but still snow on the mountains so we could not do a lot of the walks. Could this happen in these areas? What is the weather like in Sept/Oct? We would also like to go when there are less crowds. Is it a good idea to get a French train pass for a few weeks? We had to buy our Swiss Pass in Australia before we left home - the one we bought was not available in Switzerland. We could use it every day for 1 month if we wanted. I am asking as we do not have a French Travel Centre in Sydney and our travel centres here do not have the knowledge of Europe. Until next time.

Hello Curlie (from a fellow Australian). I read your post and felt envious of you planning your next trip - we too had a lovely time in Switzerland a couple of years ago. I cannot give you any first hand experience in France, but the areas around St Remy and Avignon sound lovely. I have them on my list of possible places to visit. Someone posted something on a delightful sounding place called "Provence Paradise". Type it into the "search this forum" and you may get some more inspiration there. Happy planning!

G'day curlie from sunny Sth Australia... the consensus seems to be for Nice, checkout this place just 4km outside of Nice at Villefranche sur Mer
http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/France/Cote-dAzur--Riviera/holiday-apartment-Villefranche-sur-Mer/p15149.htm
We stayed there for 1 week in May last year and the weather was perfect and although we had a car we hardly used it as the bus was much easier. The rental is very reasonable so you could easily skip a few nights whilst training it into Italy for an overnight stay. Just be aware that this Cote dAzur area is quite heavily populated (like Bondi)so if it's the quaint village atmosphere you are after then consider leasing a Peugeot/Renault/Citroen for 4 weeks and slowtravel through Provence. It only takes a few hours to adjust to LHD. 3 simple rules....turn left, move over to the right...turn right,stay on the right...anticlockwise on roundabouts
cheers....Valvster

Try Alsace (not Colmar maybe too big), or St Emilion in Bordeaux or maybe Auxerre/Chablis

Someone else has suggested Provence and I would too. Hire a car and drive to the wonderful little villages built up high on hillsides. Buy a guide book covering that area and stay in several different places. You can start by the coast and work your way along inland. Every village is picture postcard and some of them make pottery that has been handed down for hundreds of years that they will send all over the world to save you being concerned about breakage. Particularly visit Moustiers-ste Marie where most of this beautiful pottery is made and the town is wonderful with a waterfall running down through the centre and cafes and restaurants around it. The town is built high into the hillside but the drive up is really awe inspiring. If you like climbing there is a very old church even higher up the hillside that you can walk to and obviously the view from there will be spectacular. Sisteron is another amazing place built up high looking over the Durone Valley. On your way to Moustiers you will drive through the Gorge du Verdon and can visit on the way Lac de st-croix which is the most wonderful blue especially if the sun is shining down on it. We visited in early May and the weather was lovely quite hot too by this time.

A few years ago, I was fortunate to get free lodging in a town called LUNEL, in Languedoc. The town is pretty non-descript, but it's pretty and has good restaurants. It is certainly not a tourist town, and that's to its credit. However, it has a good railroad station, which makes it possible to travel to many fantastic spots in the area, among them, Avignon, Nimes, Arles, Montpielier, and the sleeper of them all, MONTELIMAR, a great town. I spent most of my time travelling to those towns. It was very easy and buying a rail pass made it very inexpensive. It ranks as one of the best vacations I've ever had. If it were up to me, I would surely investigate it. Lunel is smack in between Montpelier and Nimes. Easy to reach.

If you chose to go to Nimes include the Pont du Gard and Uzes on your itinerary. Uzes is a fabulous medieval town with lots of shopping and good restaurants. Nime has one of the best preserved Roman temples in the world, and it is being cleaned as I write this. The ampitheater there is the finest in France, perhaps the world.

Thank you fellow Australians for your info.

PRLCH - I'm glad you enjoyed Switzerland. We were overawed with the train system there - always on time and clean. I will check out the Provence website - many thanks.

Valvster - Thank you too - the areas from Montelimar , Avignon, St Remy, Nimes and Montpellier sound like our type of places, especially as you said there was a good train system there. My husband is not keen on hiring a car - he would prefer to have a train pass. As you said the rental is reasonable, the idea of spending a few nights in another village would be a good idea but have a base to go back to.
May seems to be a good month - Switzerland in May was lovely. I will check out the web site. If Cote d'azur (as you say, likened to populated Bondi) it may be better not to stay in Nice and stay in a couple of the above areas instead. As you can see, Bondi is not our favourite place.

Smorg, Waldo and Nametaken - all your thoughts are taken in and will follow up.

Waldo, did you buy your train pass in France or at home before you left for your trip. As I have previously mentioned, we had to buy our Swiss Pass at home as we could not buy the pass in Switzerland.
Curlie

Another Aussie from Perth here just bookmarking so I can read this later - some great info in here for us too.